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Get Your Transitions On: An Interactive Foldable

Earlier in the school year my students and I held an impromptu funeral to bury a number of transitional phrases that were over used and elementary in my students’ writing:

“I think” —

“I believe” — No “I statements” need apply

“In conclusion” — Very elementary

“All in all” — I had one student write this for each paragraph he wrote in a 5 paragraph essay!

Yet, my students were still looking for and asking me what transition words to use in their writing that would act as a road map for both the writer and the reader. I created a transitional words interactive foldable for their journal to offer an easy menu of transitional words that would benefit students’ writing.

I designed a transitional word pinwheel with wedges taken out of the pie diametrically opposite to each other so that my students would be able to choose transitional words based on purpose and meaning before inserting it into an essay.

The following transitional words and phrases were included on the pinwheel:

To Clarify: Clearly, Specifically, In other words

To Link: Also, and, for example, as an example, furthermore, moreover, for instance, to illustrate, likewise

To Show Relationship: Comparatively, in comparison, likewise, with regard to, moreover, similarly,

Counterpoints: Alternatively, another possibility, in contrast, rather, but, however, on the contrary

Sequence: At first, earlier, finally, meanwhile, later, next, simultaneously, at the same time

The idea behind creating this foldable is for my students have models, and multiple examples of transition words and phrases to use with their writing and help their ideas flow.